The Plenary Assembly of the Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies – CALRE took place in the Ville Ponti Congress Centre in Varese, Lombardy. The two-day event, held on 24-25 November 2016, was attended by more than 100 participants coming from 30 European Regional Parliaments, members of the Conference, from 7 European countries – with the participation as well of a delegation from Brasil (UNALE) and a delegation from Cape Verde National Assembly.

Hosted in the beautiful location of Ville Ponti in Varese, Lombardy CALRE 2016 Plenary Assembly was preceded by the CALRE Third Standing Committee, before proceeding with the Plenary Assembly in two afternoon sessions on 24 and 25 November.

The Plenary Assembly closed its final day with adoptions of resolutions and documents put forth by CALRE 2016 Presidency, as well as with the election of the 2017 President and and re-election of the Working Groups.

Juan Pablo Durán Sánchez, President of the Andalusian Regional Parliament, was unanimously elected as CALRE new President for 2017: hence Spain will host the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the CALRE founding Declaration, signed in Oviedo, Spain in 1997. Related news.

All CALRE Working Groups were confirmed – with the exception of the Working Group on “Migration, Social Policies and Human Rights”, which was characterized by new tasks and a co-presidency by the Regional Council of Molise and the Canarian Parliament with the title of Migration and policies to face the migration of unaccompanied minors.

Two new WG were also established: a Working Group on “Demographic trends”, assigned to the Regional Parliament of Castile-La Mancha, and a Working Group on “Natural disasters”, assigned to the Regional Council of Abruzzo.

All outcome documents (CALRE 2016 Declaration, Brexit resolution and the Document on a strengthened role of regions and associations) are available in the section “Working Documents” at the end of this page and in the section “Documents” of CALRE website.

CALRE 2016 President and President of the Regional Council of Lombardy, Raffaele Cattaneo speech – 24 Nov 2016IT | EN

CALRE 2016 President and President of the Regional Council of Lombardy, Raffaele Cattaneo speech – 25 Nov 2016IT | EN

On the occasion of the Second Session of the Assembly (Nov, 25) an interactive debate took place with some representatives of the Associations of European Regionalism about the European profile and future perspectives of Regions and Associations, with a special focus on three priority issues:

Panel I – “What role for Regions and Associations of European Regionalism in building the future of the European Union” – with the speeches by Pedro Gonzales Sanjurjo, COPREPA President and Magnus Berntsson, Vice-President of the Assembly of European Regions, AER

Panel II – “The European migrant crisis: a global issue, a territorial issue” – with the speeches by Ahidar Fouad, Vice-President at the Parliament of Brussels-Capital and Gudrun Mosler-Törnström, President of the Congress for Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and Vice-President of the Regional Parliament of Salzburg

Panel III – “The future of the regional development policy: the role of Regions and Regional Associations in the European debate on the Cohesion Policy post-2020” – with the speeches by Franco Iacop, President of the Conference of the Presidents of the Regional Legislative Assemblies and of the Autonomous Provinces and Karl-Heinz Lambertz, CoR First Vice President and President of the Association of European Border Regions, AEBR.

for an exchange of views about a strengthened role at European Level of Regional Authorities and Associations representing European Regions and Territories.

The debate was opened by the President of CALRE 2016, Raffaele Cattaneo and by the President of the CoR, Markku Markkula who delivered a speech about the importance of the role at European level of the European regionalism initiatives, before the formal handover to the President of the Committee of the Regions of the document on “A Strengthened Role at European Level of Regional Authorities and Associations representing European Regions and Territories” (IT | EN) endorsed by CALRE Plenary Assembly.